Deconstructing Destroyer

Like most of the output from Vancouver indie-rock band Destroyer, Trouble in Dreams is a beguiling album thats hard to pin down. Full of surrealistic tales of lost love and missed opportunities, Dreams songs defy easy categorization. We tracked down the bands creative engine, guitarist and vocalist Dan Bejar, for answers.

New Times: Do people come to you with interpretations of what they think your songs mean?

Den Bejar: People look at writing and language different than I do. I dont write in code -- theres no code to crack. I guess the current view of smart writing is writing thats tricky or has many different messages at once. I dont buy into that -- I just want to write one extremely poetic line after the other, as continuously as possible. So when people ask me what a song means, all I can tell them is that every single line means exactly what it says.

NT: When you perform, you seem to go into a trance. Is writing like that for you, too?

Bejar: The writing process is kinda thoughtless, idle -- it involves just me going on a walk, really. I wrote the bulk of the songs [on Dreams] while I was living in Spain. It was just really comfortable and natural -- just me sitting around strumming a guitar and barking out words when I felt like it.

NT: As an outsider, whats your take on America now that youre touring here?

Bejar: Im kinda from here -- my moms American and Ive lived in the States. But my relationship to the country -- Im usually pretty torn up about it. Theres things I really love and other things that Im constantly flabbergasted by. I also dont have much love of travel. Thats kinda why touring gets me down. I like to go to one place and stay there. I know I have this reputation for not enjoying performing, but I actually do like playing music. Im just not sure if Im built to be in front of an audience night after night after night for three or four weeks straight.

NT: A lot of musicians wont admit that -- its like theyre afraid of sounding ungrateful to their fans for showing up.

Bejar: Not enjoying touring and not enjoying playing live are two very different things. I think you can really love playing music in front of people and still kinda hate the machinery involved in touring. I mean, its just human to have good nights and bad nights. It makes it more interesting instead of being, like, a pogo stick born to entertain [laughs]. But if theres some sense of struggle involved, and you actually pull through, its kind of exciting.